Codex app: Scheduled automation run fails with `AbsolutePathBuf deserialized without a base path` and remains stuck `IN_PROGRESS`

Summary

A scheduled Codex Desktop cron automation fails immediately when starting a local WSL workspace run. The run is created, but turn/start fails with:

Invalid request: AbsolutePathBuf deserialized without a base path

The automation run row remains IN_PROGRESS, so the UI shows the run as still running and opening it hangs/loads forever.

Environment

• Codex Desktop: OpenAI.Codex_26.608.1337.0
• codex-cli: 0.138.0-alpha.7
• OS: Windows + WSL
• Automation kind: cron
• execution_environment: local
• cwd: <absolute-wsl-project-path>

Evidence

The same automation/cwd/git state succeeded with codex-cli 0.137.0-alpha.4.
It failed after updating to codex-cli 0.138.0-alpha.7.

Desktop log:
[automations] Scheduled run failed automationId=<automation-id> errorMessage="Invalid request: AbsolutePathBuf deserialized without a base path"

The session file for the failed run contains only session_meta; there is no user message, no turn/start, no tool call, and no task completion.

Minimal Reproduction

Start app-server and send a turn/start request with a relative path in sandboxPolicy.workspaceWrite.writableRoots.

writableRoots:["relative-dir"] returns:
Invalid request: AbsolutePathBuf deserialized without a base path

writableRoots:["<absolute-path>"] succeeds.

Expected

The scheduled automation should either:

• normalize relative writable roots against the thread cwd before sending turn/start, or
• app-server should deserialize these paths with the appropriate base path guard.

If startup fails, the automation run should be marked failed, not left IN_PROGRESS.

Actual

The scheduler creates a run/thread, turn/start fails before execution, and the run remains stuck as IN_PROGRESS in the local automation run state.